The Churchill Series – Nov. 30, 2006

(One of a series of weekday posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

Today’s the anniversary of Churchill’s birth at Blenheim Place in 1874.

The post which follows is the last of a three post series intended as a tribute to one of history’s great people. I’ve tried in the three posts to pay a well deserved tribute to Churchill but to do so with a little different “take” than the typical Churchill tributes which note his best known and most important public achievements.

We know Churchill didn’t suffer fools gladly and coulld sometimes be gruff. But at core he was a very kind person who often went out of his way to help those less fortunate than he. And he almost always did it outside the public spotlight.

Consider how he treated Mr and Mrs Donkey Jack.

The Jacks (they picked up “Donkey” because they owned one) were gypsies who had an encampment on common last that adjourned Chartwell property. Property owners then and now in England often pressure their town councils and other government agencies to clear gypsies off common land so they’ll leave the area.

Churchill didn’t do that. He was content to have the Jacks as neighbors. Clementine felt the same way.

But Churchill didn’t just leave the Jacks be. He often helped them.

When Mr Jack died in 1933 he was to be buried in a pauper’s grave. Churchill arranged and paid for a funeral and proper burial.

In October, 1934 Mrs. ‘Donkey’ Jack received notice of eviction by the local council. Churchill gave her permission to move her encampment into Chartwell woodland.

On New Year’s Day, 1935 Churchill wrote to Clementine, then on a cruise in Asia:

Mrs Donkey Jack will very likely never be able to walk again as it is unlikely her fractured ankle will knit together at her age. She was knocked down by a workman on a push bicycle and no compensation of any kind can be obtained for her in this desperate misfortune.

Should the worst be realized I shall try and get her into a decent home for the rest of her days at some small cost. …

In the same letter Churchill told Clementine that their indebtedness was not as great at the end of 1934 as it had been at the start. He said if all went well he thought they could further reduce their debts by the end of 1935.

A few weeks later in another letter he tells Clumentine:

While I was working on the new wall today Mrs Donkey Jack come walking along having trudged all the way from Westerham [ A village a bit less than 2 miles from Chartwell. – JinC] upon her injured ankle.

She was proposing to walk down there again tonight to get her pensions arrears which have accumulated while she was in hospital

I stopped this and we supplied her with food until Monday. …

Mrs Jack continued to live on the Churchills' property and he continued to look after her until her death a few years later.
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In haste now. I'll provide sources this weekend.